Summer Plans – Stay Tuned! Join In!
This was our last session for this year. During the summer months we will focus our attention on the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday. I plan to post some pointers no later than Tuesdays of each week and look forward to communal dialogue during the week; questions, comments, and observations.
We also will focus our attention on a deeper appreciation of what it means to be church, especially what are we doing when we gather to celebrate the Sunday Liturgy. I hope to post some remarks on that topic again by Tuesdays of each week.
When CCD begins we will gather again and begin with Genesis Chapter 16.
The Covenant with Abram: Gen. 15: 1 – 21.
Before you read the passage http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/15, read the notes and the remainder of this and the next paragraph. It always helps to focus your attention by asking a few basic questions that, if you’ve followed us at all, you will know. Who, When, What. Most importantly, pay special attention to what happens on the inside of you; even if what happens is nothing. Whatever happens matters, because you matter. Finally, here is the tricky part, whenever you are moved by the Spirit you are moved but not every movement is from the Spirit. Always – evidence of the Spirit are inward, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Gal. 5:22 – 23. And outward: I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was homeless, I was sick, I was imprisoned and you …. Mt. 25: 35 –
This passage has two related segments v.1-6 and v.7-21, probably put together from a collection of Abram stories by our editor. Each has the same structure: God promises, Abram questions, God responds. The first deals with the issue of descendants and the issue of what is God going to do; the second, with land and how is Abram going to know. Keeping the time of the story and the time of the editor in minds can be very enriching. The events in the story take place thousands of years after the intended audience of the written account hear the story told to them. They are very familiar with the stories. It is about Abram but it is also about them and their history from David to the Babylonian Captivity. It is meant to address their faith at a time in which there was trust in the Lord had been severely challenged.
Perhaps one of the most significant passages in the whole of scripture occurs in conclusion of the first segment; at least that was the case for Paul. So we read in v. 6 “Abram put his faith in the LORD, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.” What can be of enormous help is forming you answer to questions in the bible is to draw your answer from your own life experiences. Start there. What does it mean to put faith in someone? Have you ever put your faith in anyone? What did you do? Why did you do it? What is the context in which Abram “put his faith …”? Following up whatever conversation you may have had with just yourself but especially if there was someone else reading with you the rest of the verse. There we read, “who [the LORD] attributed it [put his faith] to him [Abram] as an act of righteousness.” What is righteousness? Do you ever use that word in your ordinary life? Probably not. It is a biblical term and more, one general source for deepening you understanding of this one word might be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteousness. Google it, read more, share what you find.
Abram’s trust, when there was little, if any evidence, summons us to some of the most disturbing moments in our life, when there is little if any evidence. It is frankly quite easy to trust when the evidence is overwhelming. But precisely at the time when all of the evidence was not to trust, Abram trusted. God’s response was to “attribute” – look for clues to that word in your life. “As an act of righteousness.”
Here we are taking a single verse and word by word asking, searching for its meaning; not just for Abram, not just for the Hebrew people, not just for Paul, but for me in the now of my life. How can a book invite so much from the reader, listener? Time to rest and listen to you.